Best Space Photos of the Week — April 19, 2015

SpaceX Narrowly Misses Rocket Landing After Dragon Spaceship Launch Success

SpaceX (via Twitter as @SpaceX)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the company's Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station today, then turned around and nearly pulled off a soft landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.[Read the Full Story]

Click through this gallery to see more amazing space photos from the week.

Awesome New SpaceX Video Shows Rocket Landing Try and Crash

SpaceX

Those of you who wanted to see the explosive last seconds of SpaceX's daring rocket-landing attempt Tuesday (April 14) are in luck. [Read the Full Story]

1st Color Image of Pluto Snapped by Approaching NASA Probe (Photo)

NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto has returned its first color image of the dwarf planet and its largest moon, Charon. [Read the Full Story]

NASA Probe Sees North Pole of Dwarf Planet Ceres (Video)

NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

After spending several weeks in the shadow of Ceres, NASA's Dawn spacecraft is finally getting a close-up glimpse of the dwarf planet. [Read the Full Story]

Stargazer Enjoys Venus View from Giant's Causeway in Ireland (Photo)

Miguel Claro/www.miguelclaro.com

A stargazer enjoys a dazzling view of the planet Venus in this spectacular photo taken above the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. [Read the Full Story]

Mars Rover Curiosity Runs 10K on Red Planet

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Just three weeks after NASA's Opportunity rover completed the first-ever Mars marathon, the robot's bigger, younger cousin wrapped up its own long-distance race on the Red Planet.[Read the Full Story]

SpaceX's Dragon Cargo Capsule Arrives at Space Station

NASA TV

SpaceX's robotic Dragon cargo spacecraft has rendezvoused with the International Space Station to deliver vital supplies, bringing a three-day orbital chase to an end. [Read the Full Story]

'Behold Vulcan': Next-Generation Rocket Unveiled by United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance

United Launch Alliance, the U.S. company behind the Atlas and Delta family of rockets, has unveiled Vulcan, its next generation launch system. [Read the Full Story]

Comet Comes to Life in Amazing Rosetta Spacecraft Photo Montage

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

The heat is on for the Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it sails ever closer to the sun, with the European Rosetta spacecraft snapping a stunning set of photos that the buzzing activity of the icy wanderer. [Read the Full Story]

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Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.